Pouring Rain in the Mayan Jungle" (travel)
Pouring Rain in the Mayan Jungle
How do I begin to describe what it was like for my kids and I to go back in time as
far as possibly 900 A.D.? Today we did exactly that!
We needed to get out of the sweltering heat of the town where we're on a house sit
for September and get into an air-conditioned mall. We took a taxi from Bacalar,
Mexico to Chetumal where we landed just over a week ago, about 30 minutes away.
We walked through the small mall, ordered some local food and a Subway sandwich
just for Dylan and decided there was more to explore than just a Mexican version of
something we could see in the US (another mall).
The taxi driver on the way to Chetumal explained that there were some pyramids
located just 10 km from town. It had just rained, so I asked my boys if they were up
to exploring something from back in time. They thought the idea sounded cooler
than ever, and upon finding out that it wasn't such a large pyramid, I thought that I
would also be up to doing something that wouldn't take the wind out of me. I could
handle a mini pyramid, right? After all, I learned that getting up a pyramid isn't the
problem. It's getting down!
So, after visiting the mall, we asked the local taxista (taxi driver) if he'd be willing
to take us to the local pyramids. I think the way we communicated in our Argentine
Spanish was a bit different from the way the locals communicate in Spanish, and I
was beginning to wonder if he didn't know what we were talking about at all. He
agreed to take us, but then the light finally went on in his head. "The ruins! You want
me to take you to the ruins?" I asked him what he meant by that and it sounded like
the same thing and I said that's where we wanted to go.
Then my thoughts went wild with fear, "What if he takes us somewhere, drops us
off and we can't find our way back?" All moms have these fears, and this was no
different. After all, I didn't want to become a statistic of a foreigner who got lost in
the Mayan jungle, died of hunger or a snake bite...
At this point, I was wondering if we should've set off on this adventure in the first
place. After all, safety first mom! Probing him further, I asked him how the road
conditions were and that if we would be able to call a taxi to get back to our town
after visiting the ruins. He responded that it wouldn't be possible. Luckily, my
international experience has previously taught me that I needed to think hard and
fast. I asked him if he'd be willing to wait for us so we could reach the archeological
site, take a few pictures and return. He readily agreed, so we pressed on.
While driving along the Caribbean Sea we could see from the right side of the car,
we found out that our taxi driver Alberto was of Mayan descent. I gently nudged him
for a local story. Luckily, he consented to my wish and we were told that many years
ago, when only Mayans lived there, a shipwreck occurred that landed some
Spaniards on the shore of that town. Well, that Spaniard fell in love with a Mayan
girl and decided he wasn't going back. Just like us, he'd fallen in love with the
kindness of the Mayan people, learned the language and declared himself a Mayan.
After several years, the word got back to the Spaniards and they later killed him for
treason.
When we arrived, I noticed that the last group of visitors was just leaving. We were
given two sets of brochures (in English and Spanish) and we proceeded toward the
entrance that would lead us to the Mayan jungle.
As we walked towards the site, a light rain began to fall, and it awakened our senses.
In March, my son Dylan and I had been to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, but
this wasn't a fabricated jungle; this was the real deal! As Dylan made a video of us
walking, loud thunder resounded, and the rain started falling in larger volumes.
Then we saw the site. The Mayan ruins, consisting of a small pyramid and two other
structures in an area containing a lot of trees that provided shade. It was as if the rain
was just waiting for the thunder to give it permission to start. We took the first picture
and then saw a talapa (grass hut) we could run to for shelter. Upon arriving there,
we saw a skeleton inside. My boys went crazy! "Look at this skeleton, mom! How
old do you think it is?" I knew absolutely nothing about skeletons, bones or the like,
but this guy had perfect teeth:)
The rain poured down incessantly. I contemplated that there were just three of us
with these beautiful 900 A.D. ruins all to ourselves, with pouring rain to intensify
our senses. We were transported back in time. I told the boys, "Take in this moment
as one of the most unforgettable ones of your lives! Can you just imagine the people
living here, working to build these structures that would last for thousands of years?"
Upon realizing that the rain wasn't going to let up for a while and since Alberto the
taxista was waiting for us back at the entrance, we decided to venture back. Dylan
started singing, "I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain!" I wanted to dance
in it and never leave if I didn't have to.
We reached the trail entrance again and found Alberto waiting for us with a smile
on his face. We were soaked to the core, but happy and invigorated, having traveled
in time back to a place where time had forgotten. It was a privileged and sacred
moment, one that I hope to never forget as long as we live...